NASA "vomit comet" makes its final flight

The NASA turbojet notoriously known as the "vomit comet" for its use in training astronauts for weightlessness made its final flight yesterday. Few among the two dozen seasoned passengers aboard got sick.

"It's inevitable," test director John Yaniac said.

NASA's "Weightless Wonder" KC-135, a four-engine turbojet, more commonly was used by researchers to conduct experiments in a zero-gravity environment.

The KC-135's final flight lasted almost three hours and made 50 of the steep climbs and dives it used to achieve 20 to 30 seconds of weightlessness at a time. Two astronauts assigned to the next shuttle mission, Steve Robinson and Soichi Noguchi, were among about two dozen aboard.

NASA received two KC-135s from the military, which originally used the aircraft for cargo and refueling. The first KC-135 — used in the movie "Apollo 13" — was retired in 2000 and is on permanent display at Ellington Field, not far from the Johnson Space Center.

Usable parts of the final KC-135 will be sold off before the plane is placed in permanent storage in Arizona. It will be replaced by a C-9 aircraft next year.

Vernal, Utah

Students charged in bomb, death plots

Two students were charged yesterday in an alleged plot to bomb the commons of their high school in eastern Utah and kill classmates and teachers.

Two other teens, both juveniles, also have been arrested but were not charged yesterday. According to court documents, some of the suspects' parents also may have been targets.

Steven Alan Kunzler, 18, and Todd Goodrich, 18, were charged with making a terroristic threat, burglary, attempted theft and criminal mischief. Kunzler also was charged with tampering with a witness in a separate case.

Sheriff's Deputy Robert Roth said the Uintah High School students had access to weapons and had downloaded material from the Internet that could be instructive in bomb-making.

He said investigators also discovered "hit lists" naming at least 10 victims — including other students, teachers and some of the suspects' parents.

Redwood City, Calif.

Peterson jury to mull lesser murder charge

The judge in the Scott Peterson case ruled yesterday that the jury will be allowed to consider a lesser murder charge that would spare the former fertilizer salesman a possible death sentence if convicted.

Legal experts said the ruling is a victory for the prosecution because allowing the lesser charges could make it easier for jurors to convict if they are unsure the killing was premeditated.

Peterson already faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his pregnant wife and the fetus she was carrying. Prosecutors are seeking life without parole or the death penalty under those charges.

Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Shuttle relaunching planned in mid-May

NASA said yesterday it is aiming for a mid-May launch of the first shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy almost two years ago.

The launch date was the latest of several set by the space agency, and just as subject to change.

Until this month, NASA had hoped to resume shuttle flights as early as March, with Discovery making a space-station supply run and a test flight of new inspection and repair techniques. But four Florida hurricanes damaged the space agency's buildings and hindered launch preparations.

New York

Guest conductor held over spousal support

A guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera was arrested after he finished a performance of "La Boheme" late Thursday and was taken into Manhattan Family Court yesterday in connection with a dispute over $100,000 in support payments to his estranged second wife in Italy.

Israeli maestro Daniel Oren, 49, who lives in Monte Carlo and arrived in New York about two weeks ago, was picked up backstage at Lincoln Center.

ALSO

Mark Hacking pleaded not guilty yesterday to murdering his wife, Lori, whose remains were found in a Salt Lake City landfill weeks after her disappearance. Prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty against Hacking, whose trial was set for April 18.

A feeding tube for Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged woman, can't be removed until appeals are exhausted in her parents' fight to have a new trial in the long-running right-to-die case, a judge ruled yesterday in Tampa, Fla.

Lionel Tate, 17, freed from prison this year after his life sentence for killing a young playmate was overturned, received an extended probation period yesterday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after violating his curfew, and was freed once more.

Union Station, the main passenger rail terminal in Washington, D.C., was evacuated last night after paint-thinner fumes entered the ventilation system and wafted throughout the building, fire and rescue officials said. No injuries were reported.